Thursday, August 20, 2009

Grilled Vegetable Frittata with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Some people do extreme things for good reasons. For example, over 2,000 people will be walking 60 miles for breast cancer over the next 3 days. One of those people is my friend Jill. We needed to load her up with heart healthy vitamins, minerals, and proteins for her big walk so we made this great dinner tonight.

I've posted before about my love of frittatas. I think they are fabulous and versatile, while also being a very lean dinner. This version was made with farm fresh eggs that Alicia had obtained. The egg whites were completely clear and the yolks were almost neon orange...that is a fresh egg. And you could taste the difference in the final product.

Once again, I used a hodgepodge of leftovers to make this meal (that's the best part about frittatas!) but the extra something special was the tomato sauce. Since we were doing this frittata Italian-style (with veggies, basil/oregano, and mozzarella), it seemed a tomato sauce was an appropriate condiment. Plus, tomatoes are in season and delicious right now!

Sweat the onion over medium heat until soft in a large oven-safe skillet. Add vegetables and cook until soft (or if they were pre-cooked like mine, just until heated through). Meanwhile, crack eggs into a bowl, add water, garlic scape pesto or herbs, salt, and pepper and whip until bubbly. Add to skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until halfway done (bottom done, top still runny). Add cheeses to top and pop in the oven until done, or until it doesn't wiggle when you shake the pan. You may need to broil it for a couple minutes at the end to brown the top of the frittata. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting a piece. If you do it right, the frittata puffs up so it's almost like a souffle, light and fluffy. If you're feeling sassy, serve with fresh tomato sauce (recipe follows), a nice green salad with balsamic vinaigrette, good bread, champagne, red wine, and girl talk.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

1/2 small yellow onion, minced

1 large clove garlic, minced

4 large fresh roma tomatoes, diced

olive oil

salt, pepper, and any fresh or dried herbs

Sweat the onion in the oil over medium heat until soft (about 5 minutes), add garlic and cook another minute. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and dried herbs (if using fresh, wait until the very end to add them). Cook over medium-low heat for approximately 20 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and most liquid has cooked out.